The art of chewing gum manufacture is well established. Suitable gum formulations traditionally contain a substantial quantity of one or more water-insoluble elastomers, either natural, synthetic, or both, flavorants, sweeteners and the like. More recently, sugarless gums containing synthetic, high intensity sweeteners encouraging low calorific content, and/or non-conventional di- and polysaccharides, particularly those which are non-cariogenic, have become increasingly popular. Considerable research has been expended to formulate sugarless gums which retain sugared-based gum properties, such as texture, flavor retention and storage stability, among others.
Sugar-based gums with a crunch have recently become important commercially. Such gums contain crystals of sucrose, or granulated sugar, which provide the needed crunch. The crunch provided by granulated sugar is described as firm and slightly gritty in nature. An acceptable, yet crunchy substitute, needs to be found for the manufacture of crunchy sugarless gums. In order to be commercially acceptable, it is preferred that the sugarless substitute have a long chew time before the crunchiness has substantially dissipated, and a prolonged storage time. In this regard, crunch-providing gums having internally distributed crunch additives are not similar to gums having a hard outside coating, as the manufacturing and storage problems are quite different. It is also preferred that the crunch provided by the sugarless substitute be similar to that provided by granulated sugar.
Polyols known as sugar alcohols are potential candidates for providing sugarless crunch. Examples are sorbitol, mannitol, maltose, xylitol, and the like. However, in addition to providing crunch, the particular polyol must be storage stable, i.e. the crunchiness must be retained after a commercially acceptable storage time. Further, the flavors and softeners in the gum product should not soften the polyol and thus reduce the crunch, and the process for formation of the additive should be economically feasible.
It would be desirable to provide a sugarless additive which can be utilized to form a chewing gum product having a crunchy feel, in particular, a crunchy feel similar to that provided by granulated sugar, and which maintains this crunchy feel over an extended period of chew time. It would be further desirable to provide a gum having a crunchy feel which maintains this characteristic under commercially desirable storage conditions.